Mechanism for widening galleries applicable to drilling machines



1970 J. M. RODRIGUEZ ,843

MECHANISM FOR WIDENING GALLERIES APPLICABLE TO DRILLING MACHINES Filed March 6, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEY 8 Jan. 27, 1970 RODRIGUEZ 3,491,843

MECHANISM FOR WIDENING GALLERIES APPLICABLE TO DRILLING MACHINES Filed March 6, 1967 I 2 SheetsSheet 2 United States Patent 3,491,843 MECHANISM FOR WIDENlNG GALLERIES APPLICABLE TO DRILLING MACHINES Jose Molina Rodriguez, Madrid, Spain, assignor of onehalf to Agroman Empresa Constructora, S.A., Madrid, Spain, a Spanish society Filed Mar. 6, 1967, Ser. No. 621,005 Claims priority, application Spain, Apr. 1, 1966, 325,029 Int. Cl. E21b 3/08, 11/00 US. Cl. 175-53 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The mechanism of the present invention, which is applicable to drilling machines, enables the system of drilling galleries to be simplified by employing means which permit the utilization of drill bits of normal diameter in order to drill galleries of a larger diameter, and which can be applied in horizontal or inclined galleries and, in particular, to the drilling of galleries of large dimensions.

As it is known, at the present time the drilling of galleries is effected by means of extensible drill bits to which one section after another is added until the length desired for drilling is reached.

These drill bits form a part of the machine which imparts their rotary and forward movement to them, generally by means of hydraulic jacks which are supported or anchored on platforms suitably arranged facing the mouth of the galleries in question. Thus, compressive and torsional stresses are produced on the shafts of the drill bits, a fact which obviously limits the length that can be drilled.

For the purpose of drilling galleries of considerable dimensions it is not possible to employ this process, and special machines are necessary, whose cost is very high, and which consist of a reamer of large size and a traction equipment endowed with hydraulic grips which are fixed to the walls of the gallery, and a system of extracting the materials excavated in the pilot hole to be drilled.

The basis of the device which is being claimed in this application consists of a mechanism which, once drilling has been effected With a normal drill bit, is coupled to the end of the shaft of the said drill bit and which is equipped with blades and effects a relative angular movement with respect to that of the shaft supporting the drill bit; this movement is different and preferably in the opposite direction, being communicated by a transmission system connected to the shaft supporting the drill bit, or by means of a motor independent of the said drill bit. The mechanism is arranged in a housing or casing which adheres sufiiciently to the walls of the gallery being drilled so as to immobilize the rotary movement tendency of the machine, without hindering its longitudinal forward travel.

This device makes it possible to ensure:

A longitudinal forward movement of the supplementary blades in a direction opposed to that of the normal for ward direction of the drill bit, so that the shaft of the said drill bit works by traction and not by compression as in its task of normal drilling, and

3,491,843 Patented Jan. 27, 1970 That as the drill bit turns automatically in the normal rotatory direction, it becomes a helicoidal transporter of the residues produced when the basic blades excavate the earth, the said residue emerging through the end opposite to that where the mechanism is situated.

Details of the parts constituting the mechanism in its simplest form of implementation are as follows:

A system of blades or rotary excavating means, driven by an independent motor or by a transmission system coupled to the end of the shaft of the drill bit of smaller diameter than the housing of the blades, which blades rotate at a different angular velocity, and preferably in an opposite direction with respect to the movement of the shaft of the drill bit, this movement being the normal rotatory movement of the said drill bit.

The blades or excavating means form a solid unit with a sprocket which forms part of a planetary system whose central .pinion forms a solid unit with the shaft of the drill bit itself.

A housing or casing which surrounds the mechanism, and in which there are fixed the supported bearings, the said housing being equipped with means which ensure its adherence to the walls of the orifice produced, so that they fix the system in a rotary sense and allow the blades or excavating means to turn in a direction opposed to the direction of rotation of the drill bit.

Forming a solid piece with the casing or framework in the posterior part of the mechanism there are means or devices which make it possible to fix the ends of the installation elements such as tubes or cables, which are hauled along as the mechanism advances.

When the machine constituted by the mechanism which is being claimed has to be applied to excavations with diameters of several yards, it is of interest to have available a considerable traction force, and in the arrangement described above the following modifications are introduced.

Means of traction independent of the helicoidal extractor are employed, and which apply the excavating devices against the front to be excavated, consequently relieving the said extractor from the resultant stress so that it carries out solely its function as an extractor or detritus.

The helicoidal extractor is constituted by sections which are coupled together by means of suitable fixing devices, the said lengths being composed of two parts in the form of half-rounds each one of which has the part of the helix which corresponds to it, and the said parts of each length are joined by suitable means of fixing. The means of traction referred to may be steel cables housed in the interior of the tubular shaft of the extractor in such a manner that the latter may revolve without difficulty while the cables remain taut.

The excavator system is constituted by a complex of rotary excavating means, whose movement is independ ent, and which are fitted on a reaming head, which in turn is endowed with a rotary movement, and which describes circles concentric with the axis of the Archimedes screw of the extractor, with an angular velocity diifering from that of the said screw and preferably in an opposite direction. The said elements are driven by a common motor, or by various independent motors through a suitable transmission system.

With this second form of execution it is possible to fit the helicoidal transporter coaxially with the tractor elements and likewise to proceed to the dismantling of the hauling tractor stress of the complex of rotating elements arranged at the end of the drill bit and simultaneously transporting, as a result of its helicoidal form, thedebris excavated by the said device in the first pilot orifice to be drilled.

In relation with the idea of this invention, the annexed figures correspond solely to form of execution, and have no limitative character whatsoever, but are presented by way of examples of realization in order to give concrete expression to what has been stated in this descriptive specification.

FIGURE 1 shows the longitudinal diagram of a mechanism devised in accordance with what is being claimed and fitted in a horizontal drilling.

FIGURE 2, which is a section through the diameter, is a partial view of the detail of the left-hand part of the mechanism shown in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 shows in diagrammatic form the transversal projection of the mechanism, and indicates the relative positions of the shaft of the extractor, the blades, the satellite gears and the plate.

FIGURE 4, which is a section through the diameter, shows the excavating head with traction elements independent of those of the drill bit.

FIGURE 5 shows a cross-section of the helicoidal transporter.

FIGURE 6 shows a lateral view on an enlarged scale, of the arrangement of the said transporter.

Referring to the said figures and to the numbers in them which designate the parts and details of the elements represented, which are of interest for the purpose of this present specification, the description is as follows:

In FIGURE 1 the broken line indicates the pilot hole in which the perforation occupied by the drill bit 5 has been effected and the mechanism which I have described is constituted by the motor 7, which serves to move the shaft 4 of the drill bit 5, at the end of which latter part there is connected the driving element 1 forming a solid part with the blades or cutting elements 2. The motor 7 is fitted on a chassis which is supported by means of jacks or equivalent devices 6, in front of the mouth of the gallery perforated.

The shaft 4 has its sections coupled in such a way that its end protrudes beyond the opposite side of the pilot hole drilled and in the said end the mechanism 1 which drives the blades 2 is fitted, in such a manner that its angular velocity is different from that of the shaft 4 which moves in the direction indicated by the arrow 3, so that the blades 2 cut the earth, whose detritus falls towards the end of the drill bit 5, which acts as a helicoidal transporter and moves the said detritus to the end opposite that in which the motor 7 is fitted, that is to say in the direction marked by the arrow 3.

The detail of the arrangement of the mechanism, in the form of execution represented in FIGURES 2 and 3, is for example, with the blades 13 forming a solid part with the ring 17 and the plate 10, or fitted to the said plate in such a manner that they project from it, the said plate 10 having a ring gear in which the satellite gear 18 mesh, which satellite gears in turn mesh in the sun gear 20, which moves with the shaft of the transporter 16.

The shaft 15 is fitted and guided, axially and radially by means of hearings in the central part of the plate 10, and in the tubular lug 19 of the element 9 fixed to the casing 8, which in turn is equipped with fins 11 or with suitable elements by means of which it is fixed to the walls of drilling.

With the arrangement, if the shaft 15 of the transporter turns in the direction indicated by the arrow 14, this movement is transmitted by the satellite gears 18 to the blades 13, which turn in the opposite direction, as is shown by the arrow 12, FIGURE 3, the complex re- .4 maining fixed insofar as its rotary movement is concerned by the casing 8.

During their movement the blades 13 operate on the materials of pilot hole drilled and they usually excavate the earth from the pilot hole, the material extracted falling towards the end of the transporter 16, which moves it in the direction of forward movement of the blades. In this manner blockages which would hinder the forward movement of the device are avoided.

Let us now consider the other form of execution, applicable to excavations of several meters in diameter, in which the removal of the material of the pilot hole is effected by various excavating units 25, FIGURE 4, independently fitted on the excavating head 30, the traction (FIGURES 5 and 6) of the said excavating head being effected by independent means, for example by the cables 21 of the helicoidal extractor, constituted in turn by sections coupled until the necessary total is reached, each section being constituted by two parts, 23 and 33, which are symmetrical about the diameter.

The transporter (FIGURES 5 and 6) is composed of the two parts 23 and 33, joined to one another by screws in order to constitute the tubular body which supports the respective semihelices 22 and 32. In the interior of the transporter thus constituted, the cables 21 are housed in the transporter and with the pertinent characteristics suitable for the traction effort to be carried out.

The cables 21 (FIGURE 4) are anchored to the excavating head or support piece 30 by suitable fixing device 31, and are housed in a tubular body fixed to the bottom 7 of the said head around which in turn the ring gear 28 revolves by means of the corresponding bearings, the ring gear being driven by the pinions 27, moved directly or by suitable transmission systems by the motors 29 fitted on the support 30.

The ring gear 28 on the other side of the pinions 27 has a cavity, reinforced with struts, which houses the supporting bearings of the shafts of the rotary excavators 25, which shafts have on their other ends pinions which mesh with a central pinion provided with a central orifice Which allows the tubular body which houses the cables 21 to pass through.

With the arrangement just described, because of the effect of the traction stress exercised on the cable 21 in the direction indicated by the arrow in the left-hand part of FIGURE 4, the excavating device travels forward in this sense, there being perfectly insulated from the front and protected against the possible projection of the materials of the drilled nucleus, which materials are usually earth, the rotating complex of the pinions.

Moreover at the anterior end of this rotary complex a coupling 26, preferably elastic, may be fitted, and the said coupling may be equipped with a friction device for the regulation of the torsional stress, the end of the helicoidal transporter being fixed to the said coupling in such a manner that the said helicoidal transporter turns, forming a solid unit with the complex, and causing the excavated material to travel in the direction shown by the arrow 24, so that it may emerge through the end and fall, as shown by 34, being subsequently extracted by a conventional transporter which is not shown in the drawings. The coupling referred to may be be the terminal of a mechanism for reducing or multiplying the speed, with or without a change in the direction of rotation of the transporter, accrding to the circumstances arising in each application.

Thus the cables supply the totality of the traction stress, which is obtained by means of a suitable mechanism, for example, a hydraulic system (not represented in the drawings), while the motor or motors 29 supply the energy necessary for the rotation of the excavating system and the extractor system.

What I claim is:

1. A machine for widening a gallery in the earth comprising: a rotatably-driven shaft carrying a helicoidal drill bit; rotary excavating means arranged at one end of said bit and operable to excavate a cavity of greater diameter than said bit; transmission means interconnecting said drill bit with said rotary excavating means for rotating the latter at a difierent angular velocity than said drill bit; a non-rotating casing surrounding and supporting said transmission means; and means for moving said machine longitudinally of said bit.

2, A machine as in claim 1 wherein said transmission means includes a ring gear concentric with said bit, a sun gear concentric with and connected to the shaft of said bit for rotation therewith, and planetary gear means operatively associated with said sun gear and said ring gear, the arrangement of said ring gear, sun gear and planetary gear means being such that said excavating means is rotated at a different angular velocity than and in opposite direction from said bit.

3". A machine as in claim 1 including means associated with said housing for adhering the latter to the earth at the" periphery of the gallery being widened.

t. A machine as in claim 1 wherein said drill bit comprises distinct tubular sections coupled together to define a bore, each section being composed of two half round sections connected together along the longitudinal dimension thereof, each half-round section carrying on its exterior a semi-helice which cooperates with the semi-helice on the other half-round section so as to define the excavating element of the drill bit, and wherein said means for moving the machine includes a cable disposed longi- References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,740,761 12/1929 Berry 323 X 2,084,096 6/1937 Lewis 175106 X 2,633,334 3/1953 Lavender 17562 X 2,746,719 5/1956 Seligman 175-53 2,775,439 12/1956 McCarthy 175-53 2,837,324 6/1958 Aschackcr 17S53 2,839,271 6/1958 Kandle 175-53 2,920,878 1/1960 Kandle 17553 JAMES A. LEPPINK, Primary Examiner RICHARD E. FAVREAU, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 175106 

